UAE | Crime
Court upholds verdict, tells renowned singer to pay businessman Dh500,000 for breach of trust
A court has ordered Asala Nasri, a pan-Arab music icon, to pay an Emirati businessman Dh500,000 in compensation for breach of contract.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 17:49 September 25, 2008
Dubai: A court has ordered Asala Nasri, a pan-Arab music icon, to pay an Emirati businessman Dh500,000 in compensation for breach of contract.
The Dubai Court of Appeal confirmed that Asala, a Syrian singer, will have to pay half-a-million dirhams in compensation to the businessman.
Asala's legal representative in the UAE signed a ten-year renewable business contract with the businessman.
The parties agreed that the businessman would manage Asala's music activity and produce 20 albums would pay her $5,000 (about Dh18,350) for each album. The businessman was to shoot two music clips per album, according to the contract, which the parties notarized before the notary public in a Dubai court.
The businessman's lawyer Abdul Moniem Bin Suwaidan, of Bin Suwaidan Advocates and Legal Consultants, said in his civil lawsuit: "The contract said Asala should obtain the businessman's written permission if she wanted to perform with another party and she had to pay him 50 per cent of the profit. The agreement contained a penal clause that obliged either party who breached the contract to pay $5 million (about Dh18.35 million) to the other party."
The claimant was suing her for Dh18.35 million. The Appeal's Court also annulled the contract between the music icon and the businessman.
Bin Suwaidan said the defendant performed in several shows and signed two contracts with two music production companies, which agreed to produce three albums.
"She agreed with those companies that she wouldn't deal with other parties until the albums are produced. She signed the agreements for revenue of $1.2 million over three years. Asala breached the contract, which she signed with the businessman. We sent her a legal notice to warn her, but she didn't respond," said Bin Suwaidan who mentioned in his lawsuit the defendant should compensate his client with Dh18.3 million.
Asala's legal representative asked the Appeal's Court to cancel the initial ruling and dismiss the case and argued in the legal response that the signer's husband signed the contracts with the businessman.
Last May, the Dubai Civil Court ordered Asala to compensate the businessman for the financial and moral loss. The ruling is still subject to appeal before the Court of Cassation.
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